Adelaide: Australia defeated Afghanistan by 4 runs in the match held at Adelaide Stadium, Australia. However, the fact that the Afghan team bowled only 5 balls in an over has caused controversy.
Australia and Afghanistan played in the ongoing T20 World Cup series. In this match, when the Australian team batted, only 5 balls were bowled in the fourth over. The reason for this seems to be the umpires’ miscalculation.
Batting first, the team scored 168 runs in 20 overs. Chasing the target of winning by scoring 169 runs, the Afghan team has scored only 164 runs and is facing defeat.
Naveen-ul-Haq was bowling the fourth over when Australia batted in this match. Only five balls have been bowled in that over. Australia scored 1,1,4,3,0 runs in those five balls respectively. How many runs would Australia have scored on that one not bowled ball? There has been a debate on how much of an impact it would have had on the game.
Even though the umpires miscalculated, the Afghan players who bowled and Australia’s David Warner and Mitchell Marsh who batted in the field did not notice this. Sri Lankan player Malinga had bowled only 5 balls in one over in the ODI match played by India and Sri Lanka in the same Adelaide ground in 2012. The match ended in a draw.